Science and Technology Knowledge Quiz

ScatteredThoughts

Saw this on FB, and thought it was kind of interesting.

http://www.pewresearch.org/quiz/science-knowledge/


"The quiz is part of a nationwide survey, conducted March 7-10 among 1,006 adults, which also probed opinions and perceptions about science and math in education. The survey was conducted with Smithsonian magazine for an edition focusing on STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education (see “How Much Do Americans Know about Science?”)."


My results:

"You answered 13 of 13 questions correctly."

"You scored better than 93% of the public and the same as 7%."

TyTy76

I don't need to take a test to realize that I am better than 99% of the public.

BerryH

My results:

"You answered 13 of 13 questions correctly."

"You scored better than 93% of the public and the same as 7%."

Same here. The questions are fairly trivial if you have the slightest interest in science, but I do still despair for the percentage of the population illustrated by the lower ends of the graph.

escloflowneCHANGED

100% that was too easy!

BrainyBurro

easy quiz... here's an old engineering interview question for the OP.

let's say you are sitting in a canoe in the middle of a swimming pool and you can measure its' level on the side of the pool. in that canoe with you is a cinder block. if you held up that cinder block and dropped it into the water, what will happen to the water level and why?

this gets asked often of new grads just to see how well they reason.

ScatteredThoughts

Same here. The questions are fairly trivial if you have the slightest interest in science, but I do still despair for the percentage of the population illustrated by the lower ends of the graph.

True. That also bothers me. Several of those questions relate to subjects which are in the current news, especially in regards to environmental issues.

_noob_

:devil: wow, lots of dummies don't know the makeup of the atmosphere.

BrainyBurro

:devil: wow, lots of dummies don't know the makeup of the atmosphere.

they should have included "air" as one of the choices ("hot air" if the quiz was being given in D.C.)

ScatteredThoughts

easy quiz... here's an old engineering interview question for the OP.

let's say you are sitting in a canoe in the middle of a swimming pool and you can measure its' level on the side of the pool. in that canoe with you is a cinder block. if you held up that cinder block and dropped it into the water, will the new water level be higher or lower than previously and why?

this gets asked often of new grads just to see how well they reason.

I'm hardly engineer material, but it is an interesting question.

I'm going to say that the water level would stay the same. I think the mass of the cinder block being added to the pool would normally increase the water level, but now there is also less water being displaced by the canoe itself, so I think it would even out.

How wrong was I, and what did I not win?

BeachGingerOnTheRocks

:devil: wow, lots of dummies don't know the makeup of the atmosphere.

Sorry you missed that one, noob.

EnderNC

12 out of 13. Haven't thought about some of those in years.

BrainyBurro

easy quiz... here's an old engineering interview question for the OP.

let's say you are sitting in a canoe in the middle of a swimming pool and you can measure its' level on the side of the pool. in that canoe with you is a cinder block. if you held up that cinder block and dropped it into the water, what will happen to the water level and why?

this gets asked often of new grads just to see how well they reason.

I'm hardly engineer material, but it is an interesting question.

I'm going to say that the water level would stay the same. I think the mass of the cinder block being added to the pool would normally increase the water level, but now there is also less water being displaced by the canoe itself, so I think it would even out.

How wrong was I, and what did I not win?

hint: consider the densities of the 2 materials... cinder block vs. water.

chrisloveslife

My results:

"You answered 13 of 13 questions correctly."

"You scored better than 93% of the public and the same as 7%."

Same, but I'm majoring in engineering so I think I'm overqualified for this quiz.

billsica

I like how the Dutch have a yearly IQ show on TV. That way you can know how dumb you are on an annual bases.


13/13 . Fracking, drug testing and global warming. I'm not sure if this is a science or current events quiz.

Mother_Superior

I did awesome until they asked my age.

amckenny

easy quiz... here's an old engineering interview question for the OP.

let's say you are sitting in a canoe in the middle of a swimming pool and you can measure its' level on the side of the pool. in that canoe with you is a cinder block. if you held up that cinder block and dropped it into the water, what will happen to the water level and why?

this gets asked often of new grads just to see how well they reason.

Far from an engineer, but I'm going to take a stab at this... the water level goes down (but probably by a fraction). I'm guessing this because the cinder block is no longer pushing down on the water with an effective surface area of a canoe, but rather has just reduced the volume of the pool by the volume of one cinder block.

Close?

BeachIron

My results:

"You answered 13 of 13 questions correctly."

"You scored better than 93% of the public and the same as 7%."

Same, but I'm majoring in engineering so I think I'm overqualified for this quiz.

My undergraduate degree was in philosophy and formal logic and my graduate degrees were in law and business, and I answered 13/13 correctly. These questions accounted to grade school scientific knowledge with some current events mixed in.

Statistical bias aside in terms of who is taking the test, does it disturb anyone else that this is the state of scientific knowledge among the general population?

ScatteredThoughts

hint: consider the densities of the 2 materials... cinder block vs. water.

The cinder block is obviously denser, so it should not displace a large amount of water. The area of the canoe under the water should be larger than the cinder block.

It seems that the only other choice would be for the water level to go down.

BrianSharpe

My results:

"You answered 13 of 13 questions correctly."

"You scored better than 93% of the public and the same as 7%."

Same here......

ze_hombre

I found it satisfying that there were laser questions on a Pew web site.

Pew pew pew!

ScatteredThoughts

I found it satisfying that there were laser questions on a Pew web site.

Pew pew pew!

But no sharks.

ninerbuff

Saw this on FB, and thought it was kind of interesting.

http://www.pewresearch.org/quiz/science-knowledge/


"The quiz is part of a nationwide survey, conducted March 7-10 among 1,006 adults, which also probed opinions and perceptions about science and math in education. The survey was conducted with Smithsonian magazine for an edition focusing on STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education (see “How Much Do Americans Know about Science?”)."


My results:

"You answered 13 of 13 questions correctly."

"You scored better than 93% of the public and the same as 7%."

Same. It's interesting that some of the answers were pretty obvious and were answered wrong by a majority of participants.

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lporter229

I like how the Dutch have a yearly IQ show on TV. That way you can know how dumb you are on an annual bases.


13/13 . Fracking, drug testing and global warming. I'm not sure if this is a science or current events quiz.

If you looked at the full report summary, the grouped the questions into two categories, one being "science in the news." All of those questions were answered correctly by at least 50% of the people. The question that surprised me the most was that only 48% responded correctly to the one about lasers working by focusing sound waves.

neandermagnon

My results:

"You answered 13 of 13 questions correctly."

"You scored better than 93% of the public and the same as 7%."

Same.

maab_connor

12 out of 13... i haven't had to remember atomic makeup for about 20 years.

whierd

13 of 13. Easy peasy.

ninerbuff

Yesterday at Barnes and Nobles, I looked at a book called "Freakonomics" and how the name of a child correlated with the income of their parents. Funny as hell, but I found some truth to it. And it was in the science section.

http://www.freakonomics.com/2013/04/08/how-much-does-your-name-matter-a-new-freakonomics-radio-podcast/

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billsica

I like how the Dutch have a yearly IQ show on TV. That way you can know how dumb you are on an annual bases.


13/13 . Fracking, drug testing and global warming. I'm not sure if this is a science or current events quiz.

If you looked at the full report summary, the grouped the questions into two categories, one being "science in the news." All of those questions were answered correctly by at least 50% of the people. The question that surprised me the most was that only 48% responded correctly to the one about lasers working by focusing sound waves.

I didn't even read the summary... but




http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/03/sound-lasers-phasers/

BeachGingerOnTheRocks

easy quiz... here's an old engineering interview question for the OP.

let's say you are sitting in a canoe in the middle of a swimming pool and you can measure its' level on the side of the pool. in that canoe with you is a cinder block. if you held up that cinder block and dropped it into the water, what will happen to the water level and why?

this gets asked often of new grads just to see how well they reason.

I'm hardly engineer material, but it is an interesting question.

I'm going to say that the water level would stay the same. I think the mass of the cinder block being added to the pool would normally increase the water level, but now there is also less water being displaced by the canoe itself, so I think it would even out.

How wrong was I, and what did I not win?

hint: consider the densities of the 2 materials... cinder block vs. water.

Silly rabbit. Cinder blocks float.

Laces_0ut

13/13 the only question i could give a person a pass for is the fracking question. im always amazed at people that dont know basic science.

soldier4242

I am skeptical of the claim that so many people did so poorly on this test. I found it to be extremely easy and many of the questioned involved nothing more than common sense.